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Monday, February 29, 2016

Although James Bennett comes from a moneyed family, he’s never put his Ivy League school education to much use. When he drifts down to Marathon in the Florida Keys, a smooth-talking ex-televangelist John Wainwright takes an interest in him. James spurns an invitation to grow up and finally join his family’s business on Wall Street in favor of staying in Marathon to help Wainwright rebuild his church. But all is not as it seems.Author:

Armed with degrees from Duke University and the University of Michigan Law School, Bob Waldner moved to New York City many years ago to seek his fortune. Not being an adept fortune-seeker, he started writing fiction. He published his first novel, Peripheral Involvement, in 2014, and his short stories have appeared, or are scheduled to appear, in The Saturday Evening Post, Pinball, theEEEL and Mulberry Fork Review. He continues to practice corporate law in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Erinn, and his two daughters, Maureen and Madeleine. You can find him on the web at Bob Waldner Books.

Appraisal:

This is a first person account told from James Bennett’s perspective. I could easily have disliked Mr. Bennett. After all, he has been given every advantage, and yet he spurns his options for an aimless life. So, it’s credit to the author that James’s flaws made him seem more real to me.

The story moves along at a decent clip and is told sequentially as we follow along with James’s involvement with Pastor John Wainwright. For this reader the path the story took seemed a little too predictable, and I never felt concerned for James’s wellbeing. The decisions he makes are contextually logical, but things just worked out too easily. I suppose that was in character, but it did leave me wishing I’d seen consequences to his actions that could have produced more internal growth from the main character.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

“Kindergarten-teacher-slash-sorceress Ivie McKie has officially sworn off magic. With her father back from the dead—just in time for her upcoming wedding to sexy former magician Jackson Blake—Ivie has plotted a course straight to happily-ever-after-ville. And she won’t let anything get in her way this time.

But Daddy Dearest has something sneaky up his sleeve. When “just one more spell” goes horribly wrong and detours her into the path of her father’s dangerously hot new apprentice, Ivie has to scramble to get the magic… and her love life… back on track.

Along the way, she encounters a promise made before she was born, a clan of Scottish sorcerers in kilts, and yet another goat.”

Author:

“After walking away from her career as a business banker to pursue writing full-time, Erica moved from the hustle and bustle of the big city to a small tourist town in the North Georgia Mountains where she lives in a 90-year-old haunted farmhouse with her workaholic husband, her 180lb lap dog, and at least one ghost.

When she's not busy writing or tending to her collection of crazy chickens, diabolical ducks, and a quintet of piglets hell bent on having her for dinner, she's either reading bad fan fiction or singing karaoke in the local pub. Much like the main character in her first book, To Katie With Love, Erica is a magnet for disaster, and has been known to trip on air while walking across flat surfaces.”

How she's managed to survive this long is one of life's great mysteries.Check out her other books on her website and stalk her on Facebook for fun.

Appraisal:

“Something witchy this way comes.”

Erica Lucke Dean’s words always cast a spell on me. Her prose is easy to read and draws the reader in with believable dialogue and well set scenes. There are many twists in this story that have Ivie grasping for her sanity. The story is told through her eyes so we only know as much as she does. Her father, Angus, has secrets he has not shared with anyone. These secrets are now back to haunt not only him, but they also affect Ivie’s future and she sees no way out.

Angus has more than one secret and keeps digging his hole deeper as time passes. Suddenly, he has a new apprentice. A handsome Scottish man named Liam McDougall, who just happens to be Ivie’s age. He also seems to know more magic than Angus. The worst part is the barely controllable sexual pull Ivie feels when Liam is near. Daddy has done some dickering around and drawn Ivie into a few spells, which she had sworn off, and her hair is bright red. Jack is understandably jealous, especially when Liam shows up at every turn of events that are plaguing Ivie.

It’s a fun romp until the whole McDougall clan shows up, including Liam’s mother. It seems she and Angus knew each other as children. The IRS and the FBI both have questions for Ivie’s mother and father concerning Angus’s life insurance policy that was collected after his supposed death. There is trouble brewing all around and you must read this to see how it all turns out. There is a surprising twist at the end that leaves a few things unresolved…

Friday, February 26, 2016

Imogene and her mother, Elsie, visit Aunt Agnes on her huge estate facing the Pacific Ocean. There, Imogene meets Sampson, the butler, who treats her like a princess. Auntie Agnes is not so nice.

Unfortunately for Imogene, Elsie must join her husband, who left their home on an emergency. Elsie promises she will return for Imogene, but it wouldn’t be for five years.

For the next half decade Imogene lives in the huge mansion with her controlling and humorless aunt. The only plus is Sampson, who becomes the child’s best friend. And why not? Agnes refuses to let Imogene have friends in her home or go out unless it’s to attend school.

When Imogene turns ten everything changes when she learns about her family’s past and the world she came from—the Pacific Kingdom.

Author:

As a child, Teresa Schapansky enjoyed reading fantasies and fairy tales. When she became a mom, her daughters inspired her to write Imogene of the Pacific Kingdom. Schapansky joined forces with Bob Winterford to create Eye Wonder Studios Publishing, Inc. They have created the twelve-book “Along the Way” series for younger readers. Find out more about her at her website.

Appraisal:

With simplicity young children can relate to, Teresa Schapansky writes an entertaining story that digs into the fantasies of every young girl. For example, what little girl wouldn’t want a four-day weekend or live in a castle? The author does so through light-hearted fun and exciting adventure.

The plot for Imogene of the Pacific Kingdom flowed nicely with entertaining scenes and enough action and suspense to keep young readers engaged.

I noticed a few editorial errors that jarred me away from the story. For example, when a writer provides dialogue and description of the character’s action, it all belongs in one paragraph. I often noticed a character speaking and then another character’s actions described in that same paragraph—a huge no-no, and a good way to induce reader confusion.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

“Mia Grace lives in rural Vermont and works as a consumer advocate and educator in New Hampshire. When she’s not hiding away in her writer’s garret, she can be found enjoying her boisterous extended family, her menagerie of dogs, cats, and laying hens, and her perennial flower gardens.”

Description:

“When the past and the present collide…

Hailey Kent knows how she wants to spend the summer before her junior year in high school: hanging out at the pool with Jenna, her BFF; riding her new trail bike on Vermont’s country roads; and flirting with Jenna’s hot older brother, Cody.

Hailey’s plans are shattered when a post-graduation accident puts her brother into a coma. Feeling guilty for not stopping him from going out that night, she seeks solace in exploring an old house and its overgrown gardens.

A mysterious correlation of events propels her back in time to the Vietnam War era, where she realizes she can use her knowledge of one boy’s fate to save his life. But first, Hailey needs to convince him of her sanity.”

Appraisal:

Correlation strikes me as a book that breaks, or at least stretches, a couple rules and, as a result is both an enjoyable read and unique because of it.

The first half of the story is a well put together contemporary young adult story with a protagonist, Hailey, who is the kind of main character I like to see in a YA story -responsible, yet not perfect, with the normal struggles of someone on the cusp of adulthood. This part of the story also has a crisis which causes Hailey a lot of internal conflict. But midway through the book it takes a turn into light science fiction when Hailey finds herself involuntarily time traveling. This makes Correlation harder to pigeon-hole, is it science fiction? (probably not for hardcore science fiction fans), but this twist goes far enough it has to be mentioned.

The other thing that struck me as unique (at least not something I’d seen before, although I saw it happen in two books I read the same week) was Grace broke one of Marty McFly’s basic rules of time travel. Saying more would be a spoiler for sure, so I won’t. Through the second half of the book I found that I (and I expect most readers) understood what was happening to Hailey, while she spends much of it confused, trying to figure out what is going on. Down the stretch I was eager to see where the story was going and for Hailey to figure everything out, but also wondered how (or if) she would ultimately do that.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Every element of life in the walled city of Optica is tightly controlled by the ever watchful Wardens. Citizens accused of breaking the rules suffer public humiliation or execution. Red (named for her hair color) is a rebellious teen. Skirting the rules, she tries to learn the true reason for Optica, why she’s considered “different,” and what the mysterious Guardians plan for the citizenry.

Author:

Amanda Witt began writing novels when her teenagers and their friends cornered her and presented her with a wish list that became, eventually, THE RED SERIES.

Her short story "Night Rose" was chosen by international best-selling author Jeffery Deaver for inclusion in the Mystery Writers of America anthology A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, and singled out as "hottest of all" by Kirkus Reviews and "arresting" by Publishers Weekly.

She is currently at work on a stand-alone thriller. Visit her at her website.

Appraisal:

The world building in this novel was extremely well done. Optica is dark and depressing—very Orwellian. The society is tightly controlled by Wardens who are armed and in most cases devoid of sympathy for the general population. Video cameras constantly observe the citizenry. At night, a searchlight mounted on a high central tower like the eye of Mordor swivels its beam across the streets. The main character, Red, was likeable enough to keep me rooting for her as she lurched from one risky encounter to the next.

I had two issues with the story. The first is personal—there were a lot of named characters, and I found it difficult to keep them straight in my head. I know not every reader is challenged in this manner, but I am.

My other issue was with the way information about the genesis of Optica and the true allegiances of the secondary characters close to Red was unresolved. While the author offered many hints, she kept salient information back, and this teasing technique pulled me out of the story a number of times.

This is first in a four book series, so a certain amount of set up is to be expected, and of course the objective is to encourage the reader to move to the next title. But most of the story takes place in and around Optica, and the novel ends elsewhere with a cliffhanger of enormous proportions, leaving many threads created in Optica hanging and open. I’d have liked more resolution before being moved on to the next part of the story.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

“You
are invited to enter Ar’rothi, a world as vividly realized as
Narnia or Middle Earth, a world where animal spirits guide humans
towards enlightenment, and in which an orphaned girl and a warrior
duchess must join forces against an evil that threatens everything
they have learned to love.

…Stormy
clouds of war are moving against Anacafria on two fronts; the
Tevaiedin, the dark spirits of the Seven Realms, and Desdamea, the
cruel and grasping queen of the neighboring country of Organdy, are
both gathering their forces in a bid to dominate and destroy the
kingdom. The Duchess finds her loyalties divided between her adopted
daughter, who is the only one who can lead a defense against the
Tevaiedin and her king, who needs her skills as a warrior and as one
of the commanders of his elite troops.”

Author:

Alison
Naomi Holt grew up on a working cattle ranch in Arizona where she
inherited her greatest passion, the love of animals, from her
grandmother. After earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in writing at
the University of Arizona she joined the police force where she
worked every possible job that became available, changing assignments
every few years just because she could. She has been a patrol
officer, a detective, a hostage negotiator, commanded Undercover
Units and Riot Control Squads, and became the Sergeant/Supervisor for
the 11 man K9 squad. Ms. Holt hopes to share her passions and
experiences through her writing. Learn more about her other stories
at her website or follow her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

It has
been about two and half years since I read Spirit
Child, so I was a little
concerned about picking up Duchess
Rising cold, without at
least skimming the last half of the first book. However, I didn’t.
Partly because I wanted to know how long it takes me to get back into
a story that I haven’t thought about for a long period of time.
Yeah, occasionally I would see Spirit Child’s book cover, which I
love, and I would remember I really liked that story. I think it
speaks a lot to the author’s talent if I don’t need an in-depth
recap to get back into their fantasy world. Ms. Holt’s must have
really impressed me because I didn’t have any trouble getting back
in tune with the story. Some names may have escaped my memory but the
author has a glossary of names and terms at the end of the book.

The
way this story starts, drops the reader right in the midst of the
action as Kaiti stalks up on King Leopold, in the midst of camp, to
test the guards’ readiness for an assassination attempt. King
Leopold and Commander Jathez become fully developed characters as the
plot progresses. As well as several other secondary characters that I
suspect will play major parts as this series continues. The author
does an extraordinary job with her Spirit Guides as well. Each has
their own personality and can be very outspoken. It’s a good thing
the King has not become enlightened enough to hear or see them yet. I
am a little surprised that Kaiti has not started picking up some of
the language spoken by Bree so far. And Bree doesn’t seem to be
making an effort to learn Kaiti’s language either. I would think
since Prince Darius and Kaiti are the same age they would try harder
to communicate as well.

King
Leopold and his imperial guard are on their trek back to King’s
City after gathering fighting troops from the outer lying dioceses of
the kingdom to prepare for war. He also would like to enlist the
Natives from the Shona tribe for assistance as well as repair
diplomatic relations between their nations that had been destroyed
through one of his dioceses warring. There are several plot twists as
treachery, and treasonous acts erupt within camp when the Tevaiedin,
the dark spirits, find black hearts to latch onto within some of the
troops in camp at a very bad time. The conclusion comes to a somewhat
satisfying end, however, with a nefarious note. I am anxious to see
what will happen now, I hope it doesn’t take another two years to
find out. I am a bit disappointed they all didn’t make it back to
Kings City before the story ended.

“Duchess
Rising is the second book
in a powerful and moving fantasy series by Alison Naomi Holt that
will appeal to fans of Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey — one
that blends the lyrical and mystical with pulse-pounding action.” I
would also recommend reading Spirit
Child first before
reading book 2. I should also mention there is a short sexy scene
between Healer Becca and her lover Nashotah, a female Shona healer."

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

“When good fails, chaos
rises to the challenge... when Bedlam learns that the
archdemon Azrael has escaped from the Abyss in order to wreak vengeance against
the person who sent her there—Bedlam’s best friend, Khet—he can’t sit idly by.

Only one
relic possesses the power to kill Khet, who suffers immortality at Lucifer’s
request: the mythical Spear of Destiny, which pierced Christ’s side at His
crucifixion. Neither angel nor demon has seen the Spear in two thousand years,
but Azrael claims to know its location. Bedlam has no choice but to interpret
woefully outdated clues and race her to its ancient resting place.

His quest
is made nearly impossible by ... a dedicated cult intent on keeping the Spear
out of the wrong hands. But to Bedlam, “wrong” is just an arbitrary word, and
there’s no way he’s letting Khet die without a fight.”

Author:

“Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a purple Smart Car.”

Ms. Corrigan owns over 150 seasons of television on DVD, loves zombie jokes, and her only culinary skill is the ability to make chocolate chip cookies.

Her first novel, Oracle of Philadelphia, was a nominee in Books and Pals 2014 Readers' Choice Awards.

“The daily life of a chaos demon is delightfully
sinful—overindulging in Sri Lankan delicacies, trespassing on private beaches
in Hawaii, and getting soused at the best angel bar on the planet.” Bedlam was by far my favorite character in Oracle of Philadelphia and
I was excited to learn that he would have his own book. This story has several
plots that weave back and forth in time with some interesting history, new
characters, and adds more depth to characters we have met before.

Ms. Corrigan uses differing points of view, which are
divided into chapters, to shift from one scene to another keeping the suspense
heightened between story threads. One new character was Siren, the Angel of Truth, who ends up being quite entertaining.
Not only does she have to speak the truth, others around her must speak the
truth as well. They can not lie when in her presence. Siren could end up being
another favorite character of mine, solely because of her inner dialogue.
Bedlam's inner dialogue is totally unique as we get to listen to his good side
argue with his demon self throughout his tests of worthiness by the Keepers of
the Spear of Destiny, it was pure gold.

This is a complex tale that requires a lot of attention to
details. If you read through quickly you will find yourself wanting to go back
and reread sections. I wouldn't consider this a light beach read. But if you
want to be pulled into a unique story with depth this is a good one for that.
The pace is fast, but readers are given time to take a few breaths when the
story switches to Carrie, who is vacationing on an east coast beach. She also
has her own story within this book. So there is a lot going on throughout.

The ending was amazing, after I got past the gut wrenching
scene where I thought I might have to throw my Kindle against the wall. By the
way, I have never thrown a book but I could feel the need rising. I could not
have been more satisfied and I didn't see it coming! Heaven is going to be
turned on its ear and I can't wait to see who the next book is about or where
the story may lead.

This is the second book in the Earthbound Angels series. Ms. Corrigan did an
excellent job filling us in on the facts we needed to know for this story, it
could be read as a stand-alone, although, I highly recommend reading Oracle of Philadelphia.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

“Deja
Voodoo is a 20th century time travel story. Ben Collins realizes that
he has lived his life before, and that he remembers most of it. After
experimenting successfully with changing his own life for the better
he moves on, trying to change events on the world stage. However, the
universe always has a way of maintaining its balance. Follow Ben as
he defies that balance and ramps it up - from changing his own life
all the way toward preventing the events of September 11, 2001 - no
matter what it may cost him.”

Author:

John
Rasor is the author of three previous books, Roadkill, How
Lost Got Lost, and A Brief History of Time Travel. He grew
up in California during the 50s and 60s, served in the armed forces,
and had a professional career in manufacturing and aerospace. During
his later years he enjoyed a job as a Hollywood messenger where he
mined interesting inside information for his time travel book. He
recently moved to Arizona to be near his adult children and
grandchildren.

For
more, visit his website. John promises those who go there either
today or tomorrow (2/26 or 2/17/2016) can enter a giveaway of some
kind.

Appraisal:

Deja
Voodoo is a time travel story
with some aspects of other science fiction/time-travel stories I've
read, but more than enough unique aspects that I never felt like it
was a rehash, but unique in its own right. The premise, that the
protagonist Ben is living his life over again, but sometimes
remembers what happened the first time around. Or is it the last time
and he'd been repeating this life over and over? I don't know about
you, but I might be willing to try a do-over.

Of
course if Ben changes one thing, that can change the path of his life
and some of those around him. Yet, he soon discovers that eventually
the world puts things back into balance, or so it seems, leaving him
back at some point in much the same position as before. Ben also
figures out that anonymous tips to law enforcement is an excellent
way to stop some of the worst serial killers of his lifetime when
they're barely getting started. Then he gets the idea of trying to
prevent one of the biggest world-changing events of our time,
September 11, 2001.

As
I was reading the book there was something bothering me and I was
having a heck of a hard time figuring out what it was. I considered
the possibility that Ben as the narrator was painting himself in too
good a light. Nope, that's not it. He was much harder on himself for
mistakes. I finally came to the conclusion that the dialogue
sometimes seemed a bit off. Once that finally sunk in, it stopped
bothering me. I guess I decided Ben should be cut some slack for not
remembering exact verbiage from two entire lifetimes and the thought
process this sends your mind reeling down was an interesting
exercise. (What if this was possible? Would you want it to happen to
you?) It was too compelling to stop reading.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Are
you aware of “The Animal Code?” I didn’t think so. It’s a set
of ethics all animals live by and includes never speaking to humans.
Yes, we’ve all read about acts of courage animals have demonstrated
over the years that reveal their inner fortitude, but never have any
of them come forth to acknowledge in speech their wisdom. Until now…

A.I.
Alexen, a human, has somehow learned about “The Code” and reports
to her species all about it in South
of Reality. In so doing, she tells
the story of Tuxedo.

Tuxedo,
a handsome mercenary cat, wanders into the home of Maine and
Laurianne Morgan. The humans accept him quite readily. The two dogs,
Peyson and Arky don’t trust the feline interloper one bit.

The
dogs believe the cat is up to no good so they juggle their guard dog
duties by interrogating, snooping, and being pests until they uncover
the cat’s true motivation.

Author:

A.I.
Alexen grew up on a farm, an experience that inspired her to write
South of Reality.
In college she majored in psychology and injected that trait into her
dog character, Arky.

Appraisal:

A.I.
Alexen does an amazing job bringing her animal characters alive
integrating human speech into their behavior patterns. Some of the
animal characters, besides the cat and dogs, include roosters, hens,
rats, and goats. All embrace the “Code” creating an atmosphere of
creativity for Alexen as her animals overcome adversity.

Alexen’s
plot line is engaging, the scenes in the book amusing, and the
setting in rural Oregon cinematographic.

South
of Reality is true to its title and
an engrossing fun read for children at any age.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

“A
terrorist attack. A vote against a popular war. A re-election campaign.

Rebecca
McElroy is looking forward to retiring as she nears the end of her second term
in the U.S. Senate.

Clarissa
Rogers, the senator's young speechwriter, is glad to be out of the campaign
business and has no intention of ever going back.

Then terrorists
launch a devastating attack on Washington that drives the country into a bloody
war and changes everything for the pacifist senator from Minnesota.

Clarissa's
sent home and is tasked with managing a campaign the experts predict is doomed
to fail. They're running against fear and anger—and public opinion. All they
have to go on is the senator's conscience.”

Author:

A former journalist, Christopher Truscott now sometimes works as a political strategist and is a veteran of “two dozen local, state and federal campaigns over the last ten years.” He has written three books in his Perpetual Campaign series (this is the second) and recently co-authored a non-fiction book on Michele Bachmann. He lives in a suburb of St. Paul, MN.

Appraisal:

Sometimes
I’m guilty of refusing to remember that fiction is, by definition, not true. No
matter how much an author might weave people, places, and things they’re
familiar with into a story, it is still a story they’ve made up. I was guilty
of that with A Referendum on Conscience,
picturing the President in the story as a George W. Bush clone and the war in
question as a slightly modified war in Iraq in search of non-existent “weapons
of mass destruction.” I’m not sure that viewing the story in this light wasn’t
a good thing for me, but I found out after reading that the true happenings which
served as inspiration were something else.

Regardless
of how you choose to relate the story to real life, if you do that at all, it’s
a great story. That there are multiple ways to relate the story to our world
only makes it better. I assume it is due to the author’s work as a political
strategist, but the “behind the scenes” look at a political campaign felt right
to me. Much of the story takes place in Minnesota, and his depiction of the
different cities and towns, as well as the specifics of the Twin Cities metro
was spot on. If you’re a political thriller fan, you owe it to yourself to give
A Referendum on Conscience a read.

Although
this is the second book of a series, I didn’t realize this prior to reading and
never felt that I was missing pieces of the story even though I haven’t read
the first. It definitely works as a stand-alone.

Format/Typo Issues:

Very few
issues; however, among the few, one was using the wrong last name for a
character (a third party candidate with a major role in the story) and the
other, also a name problem, calling one of the character’s cars a Porsche
Boxter, which should be Boxster.

Friday, February 12, 2016

“More
than forty deities, representative of fifteen pantheons from around
the world, have found Their way into the ten books (and counting!) of
the Pipe Woman Chronicles story cycle. In A
Billion Gods and Goddesses: The Mythology Behind the Pipe Woman
Chronicles, you will find
additional information on each of the deities in the urban fantasy
series, as well as a brief foundation in comparative mythology.

The
gods and goddesses in the Pipe Woman Chronicles hail from Alaska to
Mexico, and from Russia and Scandinavia to Ireland and Japan – with
pantheons of several Native American tribes well represented. The
book is organized by type of deity: creators, tricksters, and so on.
The gods are also cross-listed by pantheon, as well as by Their first
appearance in the series.

A
Billion Gods and Goddesses
is meant to be a companion volume to the Pipe Woman Chronicles
novels, but it also serves as a wide-ranging introduction to the
subject of mythology. Anyone curious about what others believe will
find something to interest them here.”

Author:

Lynne
Cantwell is a contributing author at Indies Unlimited where she
shares her knowledge about Indie publishing and promotion. She has a
master’s degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University
and is a former broadcast journalist who has written for CNN and
Mutual/NBC Radio News, among other places. Ms. Cantwell currently
lives near Washington, DC. You can connect with her at her website
or on her Facebook page.

Appraisal:

I
found this a comprehensive guide for the Pipe
Woman Chronicles, Pipe
Woman's Legacy, and Land, Sea, Sky Trilogy.
I wasn’t sure whether I would enjoy just reading about the gods and
goddesses but Ms. Cantwell is a storyteller at heart. It would be
extremely wordy to include every detail about each and every god or
goddesses she included in her stories. Besides you would get
distracted from the story itself that she was trying to tell.

In
this book she has included more information she liked and expands a
bit further. As an example, “To most people these days, myth is a
derogatory term that denotes a story based on a lie. But to
anthropologists, a myth a simply a sacred narrative.” And it turns
out there are a lot of similarities between most if not all mythic
cultures around the world.

I like
the way Ms. Cantwell has organized her extensive research referencing
and cross-referencing, and cross-cross-referencing. I can’t even
imagine the tangled webs she wove and unwove for our benefit. Thanks
for going to so much trouble for your readers' benefit, Ms. Cantwell.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Ever
since I first saw George Pal’s epic movie The Time Machine
in 1960, at the tender age of twelve, I have been fascinated by the
concept of time travel. Not actually traveling – since that is not
empirically possible in the universe in which we dwell – but
writing about it. I find the concept of time travel to be one of the
most evocative of fictional devices – the great literary “what
if”. Who hasn’t thought: If only I could have a do-over on
that one, my life would be so much better?

Having
written for twenty-plus years now, it has been the story I’ve
always wanted to write. There are many wonderful time travel stories,
cleverly written and fascinating to consider, whether book, movie or
television show. One of my all-time favorites is the motion picture
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which the main crew of the
USS Enterprise must take a pilfered Klingon ship back in time
to 1986. This action is taken in order to bring back two Humpback
whales, thereby perpetuating the species in order to save Earth, and
ensure the future of mankind. Pretty lofty goal, eh?

Time
travel stories challenge the imagination. They offer up the
impossible, and sometimes make us believe it. And why is time travel
impossible, anyway? I believe it’s because November 22nd
1963 – the instant JFK was shot – for example, is not what we can
consider an actual “place”, even though the location in question,
Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, is. It’s a conceptual problem. Our
memories tell us that this moment in time is real and must still be
there somewhere, because we can clearly see it in pictures and
captured on live-action film, or video. But time is simply a
measurement of how quickly or slowly things happen, and what we’re
seeing is no longer there – or anywhere. So, quite simply, if it
doesn’t exist – or no longer exists – we cannot go there.

The
fact that time travel cannot be an actuality did not stop me from
wanting to write about it, so I finally did it. I came up with my
time travel story, and I believe it’s the best thing I’ve written
to date. Time travel is, of course, science fiction, and requires
some basis in scientific fact. The creator must defend his concept in
a plausible manner. He must tell a believable story, but how does he
explain the impossible? “Impossible” is a word much like
“pregnant”. You can’t be “a little” pregnant, and something
cannot be “nearly” impossible – if it’s nearly impossible,
it’s just extremely unlikely, but possible.

I
think the thing that fascinates me the most about time travel is all
of the effort that has gone into explaining it over the years – the
rules, so to speak. But if it is impossible, then it cannot actually
have rules, can it? And yet as a literary device, it does have rules,
as do all fictional stories – the catch being that the writer(s)
make the rules for their story, or series of stories, and then must
abide by them. The reader can suspend disbelief, but only if the
writer does a good job of obeying the rules he has created for his
specific universe. So things like The Butterfly Effect and Paradoxes
are not really rules, merely conjecture – conceived by some pretty
great minds, I’ll grant you, but conjecture nonetheless.

Déjà
Voodoo is my “take” on the possibility of time travel. It is
about a man, born in the mid-20th century, who comes to
realize as he grows older that he remembers being here and doing all
this before. He does his best to reason out his situation, asking
questions like Can I change things? If I can change things, how
will the universe – or God, if He exists – react to it? How much
can I change, and at what price? Is this simply the way it is, and am
I the first person to experience it in this way? Do we have souls,
and if so, how do they function in the grand scheme of things?

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

“From
a bank robbery gone horribly wrong to a shipwrecked man with a
serious anger problem to a lonely teenage Peeping Tom, Ryan Sayles's
second collection of stories steam rolls along. Need a transvestite
beating up her drug dealer? Got it. What about a guy trying to stuff
a dead hooker into his trunk? Got it also. Need a Richard Dean
Buckner story? Got two of 'em. Come on in and join the mayhem.”

Author:

Ryan
Sayles is the author of several books including the Richard Dean
Buckner hard-boiled detective series.

A
solid collection of short stories with one common theme. They're
dark. Not just outside on a cloudy night dark. More stuck at the
bottom of a long mine shaft dark. But there is also a touch of humor
buried in many of the stories for a bit of comic relief, whether the
absurdity of trying to fit a dead hooker in a too-small car trunk or
at the end of the final story when hard-boiled detective Richard Dean
Buckner gets a little too touchy-feely for such a tough guy.

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